UK election 2024: More Indian MPs this time, past winners, and how Labour has charmed the Hindu community

Keir Starmer’s Labour Party is expected to win the UK general election in 2024, but the role of Indian MPs will remain in the spotlight as Indians make up a large proportion of the UK’s ethnic population, around 1.9 million, according to the 2021 census.

Polls predict Labour will win 410 of the 650 seats, a huge bounce back from its dismal showing five years ago – its worst performance since 1935.

In the previous British Parliament, under Rishi Sunak as Chancellor, of the 65 non-white MPs, 15 were from India – eight from the Labour Party and seven from the Conservative Party – marking a major milestone in diversity in the history of British politics.

The data shows that Indian households lead the high-income bracket, with 42% earning more than £1,000 a week between 2015 and 2018. Despite making up around 3% of the UK population, Indian households account for more than 6% of GDP, highlighting their significant economic and political influence.

Who are the Indian MPs in the UK?

A total of 107 British Indians are contesting for 680 seats in the UK general election in 2024. Some of the winners are:

Shivani RajaShe won her Leicester East constituency on the Labour ticket, competing against other strong candidates such as former MPs Claude Webb and Keith Vaz, who ran as independents. Born in Leicester, Raja was educated at Herrick Primary School, Soar Valley College, Wigston and Queen Elizabeth II College. She graduated with a first class honours in Cosmetic Science from De Montfort University.

Kanishka NarayanLabour’s Kanishka Narayan defeated former Welsh Secretary of State Alan Cairns to become the first Welsh member of an ethnic minority in Parliament. Born in India, Narayan moved to Cardiff at the age of 12. He won a scholarship to Eton College, then studied at Oxford and Stanford universities, before joining the civil service. Times He was described as “an Old Eton scholar and a public servant for the Valley of Glamorgan”.

Suella BravermanShe won her seat in Fareham and Waterlooville. She was replaced as Home Secretary by James Cleverley, an Indian-origin MP who had been ousted from his post after challenging the Prime Minister. She also accused the Metropolitan police of siding with pro-Palestinian protesters. Braverman was born Sue Ellen Fernandez in April 1980, named after Sue Ellen Ewing, the hostess of the American TV show Dallas, which was one of her mother’s favourite shows.

Other candidates in the running include outgoing Chancellor Rishi Sunak, who faces defeat in Richmond-Northallerton, potentially becoming the first sitting Prime Minister to lose his seat in a general election. Kenyan-Gujarati Muslim Abbas Merali is running in Harrow West against the constituency’s long-standing Member of Parliament, Gareth Thomas of the Labour Friends of India Party.

Labour’s Navendu Mishra is standing as the Indian candidate for Stockport, while Preet Kaur Gill, the UK’s first Sikh woman MP, was re-elected for Birmingham Edgbaston in 2019 and is England’s Shadow Minister for Primary Care and Public Health.

Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi, the first turbaned Sikh Member of Parliament, represents Slough. Other Labour MPs include Lisa Nandy (Wigan), Seema Malhotra (Feltham and Heston) and Valerie Vaz (Walsall South). Virendra Sharma, who has represented Ealing and Southall since 1997, has announced that he will not stand for re-election in 2024.

Labour’s first-time candidates include former Deputy Mayor of London Rajesh Agarwal (Leicester East), Baggy Shankar (Derby South), Uday Nagaraju (North Bedfordshire), Hajra Pilani (Harborough, Oadby and Wigston), Shyama Tatler (Chingford and Woodford Green), Kanishka Narayan (Vale of Glamorgan), Ryan Jude (Tatton) and Primesh Patel (Harrow East).

How Labour can attract Indian-origin voters

The British Indian community has flourished in recent years and has become politically influential, with some leaning towards conservative policies.

Under leader Keir Starmer’s leadership, the Labour party has been working to rebuild ties with the Indian community by stepping up engagement, fielding more Indian candidates and relaunching awareness-raising efforts. “When the election is called next week, we will strive to govern with a spirit of sewa, to serve you and those in need around the world,” the Labour leader said, reiterating his earlier message that “there is absolutely no place for Hinduphobia in the UK.”

Labour has also adjusted its foreign policy approach to focus on British Indian issues.

What are the demands of Hindus?

A group of 29 prominent Hindu organisations have launched the first-ever “Hindu Manifesto UK 2024”, calling for recognition of anti-Hindu hate crime and equal representation, among other key issues.

Anti-Hindu hatred has emerged as a significant problem, and groups say greater protection for Hindu communities and places of worship is needed, calling for Hinduphobia to be recognized as a distinct category of religious hate crime.

Issues such as immigration and citizenship also remain central among British Indians, with MPs calling for fair and transparent regulations to recognise the contributions of Indian migrants, as well as streamlining visa procedures, work permits and naturalisation procedures.

Education reform is another priority, particularly with regard to the teaching of Hinduism in schools, with lawmakers calling for more accurate and respectful curriculum content and better response in educational institutions to hate incidents targeting that faith.